Chelsea transfer news: The Blues were looking at candidates in the summer to deputise Reece James and have been left to rue the decision.
Todd Boehly has been told how to finally sign Inter Milan star Denzel Dumfries with Chelsea in need of a deputy to Reece James. The Cobham graduate suffered a knee injury in the Blues’ 2-0 win over AC Milan in the Champions League group stage and is set to be out for eight weeks.
Graham Potter is now without one of the west Londoners’ key players in the final fixtures ahead of the World Cup. After failing to sign Dumfries in the summer, Boehly has been left to rue the decision with just Cesar Azpilicueta and Ruben Loftus-Cheek as Chelsea’s only viable senior options.
During negotiations of Romelu Lukaku’s return to Inter in the summer, the Blues asked the Italian giants to include Dumfries as part of a permanent player-plus-cash swap deal, according to Gazzetta dello Sport. But, a deal failed to materialise and the Belgium international, who is valued at £43.5million by CIES Football Observatory, stayed put.
With Boehly reminded of the club’s need for a deputy to James, Gianluca Di Marzio has told Chelsea how to propose a fresh offer which benefits all parties involved. Speaking to wettfreunde regarding Dumfries, Di Marzio said: “He’s doing a good job at Inter – even Wednesday night against Barcelona.
“They don’t want to sell Dumfries but you know the economical situation of Inter is particular because the club is having economical problems and so I think every player at Inter could be sold. But in this moment the owner of Inter and Simone Inzaghi and the managers, they decided not to touch the most important players until the end of the season – Dumfries, [Milan] Skriniar.
“They will try to keep the most important players until the end of the season and at the end of the season with Chelsea they will try to renew the deal of Lukaku,” he added. “I don’t know if in Lukaku’s deal, Chelsea will try to ask again for Dumfries, or Skriniar or Lautaro [Martinez].
“It depends on the two situations of the clubs but they will talk again soon because Lukaku wants to stay at Inter and so surely Chelsea and Inter have to talk about Lukaku and probably other players.”
With Chelsea unable to bring Dumfries to Stamford Bridge until January at the very earliest, Potter will have to make do with what he’s already got, whether it continues to be Azpilicueta and Loftus-Cheek or a player from the development squad.
